So we slept through all the countdown and fireworks :p Old already, cannot understand crowds, cannot stay up so late.
And on this day, I woke at 8.20 am. So happy until I realised that tmr it's 6.10 am again *.* Yes, the new school year is starting...
Got the boys to pack their schoolbag today - nothing much coz no timetable yet. Also got them to clear their cabinets but the amount of unwanted stuff was unfortunately very little.. I have three little hoarders...
Since it's the new year (and I have leftover mashed pumpkin from making pumpkin noodles a couple of weeks ago), I made some pumpkin mochi pancakes. Eat 金瓜 to bring in the 金 and may the kids be 顶呱呱 in their studies! But Yu didn't eat any, even when we had a small plate of dipping sugar. Ah well, all the best to him? :p
Later, we'll be having hotpot for dinner. Macam LNY, haha!
So, what was Clan Sito up to after the Beijing holiday? We spent a lot of time at home studying!
For Christmas day, we ditched KFC for Jollibee coz Yang doesn't like the 11 secret herbs and spices... Sito made the trip to Vivocity to buy the fried chicken. They were still crispy when we opened them up! The fries were still yummy too. I think really, no more KFC Christmas for us....
But we did have some fun here and there..
Went to Legoland on Thursday, 18 December. We had wanted to go on Wednesday but since milk delivery is always on Wednesdays, we decided to prioritise milk and go the next day. But I forgot and had ordered frozen meat to be delivered on Thursday. So I changed the delivery to Wednesday.
Then, I received news from my milk man that the current batch of milk had an expiry date within a week of delivery. So I decided to postpone delivery to wait for the new batch. To avoid confusing my meat seller, I didn't change the meat delivery date. And of all days, my period came on Thursday. Sian... Legoland is fine but the mall toilets aren't too conducive...
The lucky thing was the weather - it was lovely! Finally no rain in the afternoon!
But of course we didn't know ahead of time. It was near lunch time when we got there but we didn't eat at Nanyang cafe as usual as we were afraid it would rain the afternoon. So we made a snack stop at BIG supermarket instead.
There were still highlights despite having been to Legoland n times. The build-and-race area has been refurnished with a new Ferrari, new tracks and a new virtual race using real Lego builds. Yu finally rode the VR roller coaster with the headset and it was great, he said.
Kai piggybacked Yang when he said his leg hurt, awww...
Took little dragon with him
Hard to get in, hard to get out - we're old!
The virtual race with real builds
Then we went back to the malls near the checkpoint for lunch, massage and shopping :) This time, Sito managed to nail the time for grab rides so we avoided fare hikes to and from Legoland.
Early dinner at Meng Meng
Back home, chess is a key feature. Since after his exams, Kai has been going for chess tournaments in Bishan some Tuesdays, and attended a few other tournaments. Sometimes, he met a friend or two before that to play. Once, he went to a friend's place and his friend fried noodles for him! Wa, when can my kids cook for me....?!
Mother continued to cook for us though. Went over for dinner one day, and ate too much... Brought home 15 bah zangs and all were gone in three days, thanks to the kids fighting with me for them! But I'm also glad that they like this traditional food :)
Our year-end festivities started with a 2.5kg semi bone-in ham - real ham! Sito glazed it very well and it looked and tasted wonderful! So moist unlike the ham roll we had a couple of years back. But Kai didn't like it as there were fatty bits in the real deal *.*
Our year-end festivities started with a 2.5kg semi bone-in ham - real ham! Sito glazed it very well and it looked and tasted wonderful! So moist unlike the ham roll we had a couple of years back. But Kai didn't like it as there were fatty bits in the real deal *.*
Simple Xmas eve dinner
Also took a chicken fricasse recipe and added pasta instead of reducing the sauce. There were also cabbage steak, grilled pineapple slices and sausages. Too much food :p The ham alone could feed us five times! Since then, I had used some ham to stirfry with taukwa and leeks - so good and all the kids liked it. Next week, I'll make fried rice with it...
For Christmas day, we ditched KFC for Jollibee coz Yang doesn't like the 11 secret herbs and spices... Sito made the trip to Vivocity to buy the fried chicken. They were still crispy when we opened them up! The fries were still yummy too. I think really, no more KFC Christmas for us....
Xmas day breakfast at the newly opened Yakun
What's with my hand...? :p
On Boxing Day, we went cycling! But first, breakfast at Macs at Metropolis. Filled them up with a big brunch, cycled the energy out of them, fed them a good lunner at Le Shrimp. Yu took some time to familiarise himself with cycling again before we cycled to the playground. They played mostly on the swings and the flying fox. I tried the flying fox too - so hard to get down when stuck in the middle!!!
Cycling and swimming were the only two exercises the kids had this term break. With Nintendo in the afternoon, none was keen to head to the playground!
We had wanted to go to the Queenstown swimming pool but the opening had been delayed from this quarter to the next. So we went back to Delta - sheltered pool. I kena complaints coz I forgot their goggles. But by the time they got into the water, they forgot all about it - just splashed around. They also did some form of backstroke so no goggles needed.
So cold!
The Papa boat is still going strong
Come to think of it, that was also Sito's only exercise in December. He got Flu A from Beijing and was quite sick for a few days. Then rest.... until now.... Nvm, he's lean enough and no more IPPT!
Oh, this Christmas, we had a total of three logcakes! Bought two on 5 Dec :) when we went to Jurong East - we had planned to get the Ikea log cake but also saw some at Donki so we bought two :p The chocolate crunch logcake from Ikea was frozen anyway so it ended up being eaten the last. The Donki logcake was a refreshing yuzu flavour while the middle logcake was a black forest one from Prima Deli from our journey to the east.
Would have bought a fourth one after dinner at Le Shrim but it was going to rain and we had two brollies among five of us so we ran off. We were lucky the rain was light at the BV MRT junction and Sito went without a brolly. By the time we cut through the HDB estate to the last traffic light, it was pouring! Took two trips to bring everyone over and we stayed dry, phew!
And most recently, it was our 忘年会！Third time at Makan@Jen and it didn't disappoint. But it got more crowded every year! I was glad I hit the desserts early coz by the time Sito went for it, the logcakes were gone and we had to wait for the next batch...
One hiccup - I went with a weird tummy that I, um, didn't manage to clear in the day. After half a cup of milk coffee at the end of the meal, I started feeling bad. Laosai bad. The rest waited for me in the lobby area while I went in and out of the toilet. At one point, it felt like that Vivocity episode again! I was resting in the lobby, hoping for the pain to subside so that we could quickly grab a taxi home but nope, I suddenly had to vomit.
I think it was the original tummy ache triggered by the milk coffee. It wasn't like I ate so much until I had to vomit - I already know I'm past the age to stuff myself. So I was very sad - the yummy coconut logcake, the lovely baked fish, the perfectly roasted broccoli, and I spent time and effort queueing for and shelling the jumbo river prawns! Actually I had only three of those prawns. The only upside was that the vomit was sweet, not bitter. Ok, tmi, haha!
Yang asked if I ate chilli, coz he knew chilli upsets my tummy. But these two days, he didn't tell me to skip my morning milk coffee...
Black and blue are the colours of the day
Looking at the skaters while waiting for the bus home
The term break this time felt longer, perhaps coz we left for Beijing right after school ended so the time in SG was more continuous. I would really miss waking up late! Not very late anyway.. Only once did the kids allow me to sleep until 830 am... Else one or two or three might be on our bed at 730 am, which is the earliest I allow them to disturb us...
So, now we're almost ready for the new school year - books mostly settled including wrapping the textbooks, just waiting for others to become available, shoes mostly done, including new shoes for LNY!
Auntie wrapping books
I used to wrap my own books after seeing Mother do it but my kids aren't bothered... I insist on wrapping Kai and Yang's books but for Yu, well, no younger sibling to give his books to so what's the point?! I decided to ask him - he wanted his books wrapped. Ah well, I asked for it.
Happy new year to us all!